1968 - 2008 40 Years of Change

To my family and friends who live in the United States we here in Europe this United Kingdom celebrate with you the election of president elect Barack Obama and as you usher in a new era of change, hope and leadership let me pray that all, not only Americans will benefit from his government.

I am not going to go all political but what opened my eyes to America and her period of unrest was 1968 the assassinations of Dr King and Bobby Kennedy I was eight years old and have never forgotten the ITN news bulletin of these slayings. Furthermore I had family who lived in the South and when old enough I wanted to see for myself Birmingham Alabama, Atlanta Georgia and gather up for my understanding the historic significance of these places and people.

So fast forward 40 years and we have a black man elected president in America. America a country we were told was so racist and intolerant to people of different colours that they have produced Senators, Congressmen and women, doctors, astronauts, bankers, CEO’s, Pilots, teachers, scientists, celebrated sports stars and actors and now a black president. What do we have to show in the UK and Europe as a whole?

I want to say we are living in such an interesting time filled with technological advances, medicine advances, artificial intelligence, Jets that travel faster than sound, MP3 players Plasma and LCD High Def screens, music downloads, email, internet can we keep up? everything changes so quickly and if you blink you miss it, but we are also living in changing political times, Russia, China and the Middle East are now more dominant have extreme wealth and natural resources. Presiden Elect Obama's work is Geo-political, dealing with a multitude of challenges.

The road ahead is of uncertain terrain, a road that has not been mapped, a road with twists and turns then straights with unfamiliar markings.

My challenge to my family and friends is to keep moving, keep evolving, educate and motivate travel and see the world if you dream it you can achieve it. What happened in America on November 4th 2008 has reverberated around the world President elect Obama takes office January 20th 2009 and I plan to be in DC to witness this historic moment lets wish him the very best and success to the start of his presidency.

We truly are living in exciting and uncertain times.

God bless you all,
Eric